THE national Young Builder of the Year Awards has recognised the achievements of two young people from Paisley at an awards ceremony in the Houses of Parliament, London. Grant Ballantine and Sterling Couture, both trainees at social enterprise KibbleWorks Construction, were commended by judges and awarded the prize of brand new tools and equipment.
Grant attended the awards in London in person. He said:
“I want to thank Mark for putting me forward for the Awards, and for getting the chance to visit London and see the parliament.
“I’ve never been to London before so getting to see the city as well as the awards has been a hugely enjoyable experience. I’ve been learning a lot about working in construction industry and I hope to use what I’ve learned in my future working life.”
Mark Robertson, Depute Head Teacher at Kibble, accompanied Grant to the ceremony. He said:
“The achievements of Grant and Sterling are remarkable and deserve to be recognised in this way.
“They were the only winners from Scotland which I think shows just how incredible their achievement is. Kibble is proud of what they have accomplished, and I am sure that they will go on to have great careers in the building trade.”
KibbleWorks is a group of social enterprises based in McKean Street, Paisley. It offers a range of services to local community such as construction, vehicle mechanics, garden maintenance, landscaping, picture framing, promotional materials and more. The social enterprise business model means that all profits from the business are directly invested into giving local young people training and education opportunities that they might not otherwise be able to access.
Youthbuild UK, the organisation who organise the annual awards, are a charity who promote the achievements of young people who are training for a trade. They support and advise organisations and employers to set up projects, skills training and employment schemes to combat social exclusion.